The Second Time
by diva.gonzo
Summary: One-shot. Harry is in the Department of Mysteries facing off against his nemesis once again. Only this time things are different yet the same. Written based off the prompt Sciamachy (an act or instance of fighting a shadow or an imaginary enemy) for Ollivander's Challenge. Rated T for Ron's language and references to major character death.


A/N: This was a gift for the admins at Simplypotterheads, based off a prompt for week 6 of the Ollivander's Challenge. – _DG_

* * *

_Harry stood paralyzed. The sibilant hiss in his ears was frightening. Fear gripped him worse than anything he'd faced. For once in his rather short life, he couldn't stare down his fear and act._

_Facing a dragon with nothing but his wits and his wand was the closest._

"_Hand me the prophecy and no one gets hurt. Give it to me and your friends live." But no matter what, Harry couldn't move a muscle. He knew that voice. He'd heard it often enough, sneering at him like a ruddy house elf. But when had Lucius Malfoy bothered to hide from just Harry Potter?_

_Ron was gone, Hermione too. Ginny was missing and all he had left was Luna and Neville. But they weren't there too. _

_He looked around and saw nothing but shadows. Death Eaters were there, standing in the Execution chamber. He was painfully alone, with no one to help him fight the monsters before him. Everyone who had helped was gone and he was left facing down six Death Eaters with only his wand and his backbone mysteriously gone._

_He blinked and Neville and Luna were dead at his feet, their eyes blank and opaque. _

"_No one has to get hurt. Just hand over the prophecy." The words were nothing but toxic in his straining ears. "We only want the Prophecy, just like the Dark Lord wants."_

_Harry looked to his left and the mask melted off the face. Bright blue eyes and ginger hair greeted him as an old friend. "Ron, why –"_

_The face turned malevolent, completely unsuitable for his features. "Sorry mate, but I'm sick of being your shadow. I'm sick of being second place to the great Harry Potter. Killing you will give me great power. Now hand over the prophecy or I will kill Luna."_

_Harry watched him turn his wand on the prone girl at his feet. _

"_No," he whispered in a panic. Her big blue eyes, eyes that reminded him of sea foam he saw once in a book, held him still._

"_I told you he has to be the Hero, regardless if people want saving or not."_

_Harry looked to his right and saw a shorter Death Eater. The cloaked figure banished their mask and there were warm cinnamon eyes he called his friend. "Bet he'll give me what I want if I threaten this one."_

_Harry watched Ginny move her wand from his face to the prone body behind him. Hermione lay at his feet, paralyzed by a spell and looking in abject terror. "Now hand over the prophecy before we kill her."_

"_Why? What have they done to you?"_

"_You stupid sod," she sneered. "What have they done? Nothing; it's what you've done. You killed them bringing them here. You killed them because you are easily manipulated." Ginny offered him a vicious grin. "You killed them because you refused to believe anyone else who knew what was happening. Oh no, the great Harry Potter knows best, and will act rather than listen to the smart witch at his feet." Ginny threw a curse and Hermione flinched. "You don't think, so you will lose, every single time."_

_Ginny stepped back and put the wand almost on his nose. "Now hand over the prophecy."_

"_There, there child. Give the boy some room. He'll decide to what we want, won't you?"_

_Harry looked past the Weasley siblings to the fiend standing on the stone dais. Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange had Remus and Sirius between them, a wand at each of their heads. "Harry's going to be a good lad and do what we ask, aren't you? You wouldn't want these two coming to harm, would you?"_

_Harry gripped the orb in his hand harder. Something was dripping between his fingers onto the stone floor. He hoped it was sweat from his palms. _

_The cadence clicked in harmony to his thundering heartbeat. His vision was narrowing, growing dark around the edges of his vision. Death Eater Ron and Ginny disappeared once he saw Sirius and Remus on their knees._

_Voldemort stepped off the dais and glided toward where he was paralyzed. "Quit fighting me. Your friends are dead and you killed them. You're nothing now. But you're going to give me that prophecy so you can save your precious werewolf and this profane excuse of a pureblood."_

_Harry stayed frozen. He couldn't move or speak to say anything to save his friends. He only heard the cacophony of his heartbeat threatening to tear his eardrums out of his head._

"_Owl got your tongue, Baby Potter?" Bellatrix cackled from her place on the dais. "How about I toss one of them into the Veil, since you won't submit?" Voldemort turned and she saw his smirk. "Sorry, cousin, but off you go." _

_Bellatrix motioned her wand and Sirius fell through the veil._

_**No!**_

"_Harry!" Remus yelled._

_**No! Sirius! No!**_

"_Harry!" Remus yelled again. His vision rattled like a gong._

* * *

Harry took a huge gulp of air. It was the sweetest thing he ever tasted.

Harry opened his eyes into the dimly lit room. He fumbled around with his hand to find his glasses and shoved them hard onto his nose. Blue eyes were staring back at him. "Harry," Ron's concerned voice pierced the fog of the dissipating nightmare.

"Wha –"

"You woke me up. You were moaning, like when your scar hurts. I tried to wake you and you were trying to strangle me. The sheets were wrapped around your neck." Ron stole a glance at the door. "Good thing you're such a weak specky git." Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "You screamed Sirius name."

Seconds passed before Harry could find the words. "It was a nightmare, from the Department of Mysteries. But it was different."

Ron sat down on the edge of Harry's camp bed. "Howso?"

Harry kept squirming. "Ugh, I, you, you and Ginny were Death Eaters. You threatened to kill Luna. Ginny was threatening Hermione. And I couldn't move."

Ron started laughing, so hard that he almost fell off the camp bed. "Harry, you're my mate and all, but I will never be a Death Eater. I'd soon break my wand and iron my hands than help those tossers."

Harry's breathing settled down. "It's barmy, what happens when we're dreaming."

"You sure it wasn't You-Know-Who trying to tap into your head? But then that sod would get lost in the maze of dust in there, I reckon."

Harry looked at his best friend now sitting on the floor. He saw the grin slowly grow across his features and break his face like a new dawn. "You tosser," he growled before throwing a chocolate frog packet at him. Ron caught it and tore into it, biting the confectionary in half. "Better?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. But don't tell Hermione or Ginny. They'll worry and pester me, and I really don't want to think about it anymore than I have to."

Harry went to his trunk and pulled out a fresh shirt, tossing the sweaty one into the corner where Mrs. Weasley would pick up their dirty clothes. He worked quietly so he could try to get a few more hours of sleep.

Ron watched his best mate working through it. "Harry," he said quietly.

He stopped and turned to look at Ron.

"I was serious. I'd kill them with my bare hands before helping those sods. Hell, I'd take a curse for you. You have to know that."

Harry nodded once more.

"But don't tell Mum or Hermione. They'll have a basket of kneazles if they knew."

"Alright," Harry replied sincerely. He went back to the bed and got back under the bedclothes.

He watched Ron take the three lumbering steps back to his bed. He blew out the candle and in moments was sawing logs.

Harry though couldn't sleep. The nightmare was too real. Watching Sirius fall through the veil was too much once again. He'd lost him once and the second time was worse than the first.

He rolled over and shoved his face into the pillow. One lone choking sob escaped before he had his face burrowed into the mattress under him.

He didn't want Ron to think of him as a ponce, hearing him sob into the goose feather pillow.

* * *

Molly Weasley silenced her feet before leaving the landing. _Just like Gideon and Fabian, those two._ She'd make a treacle tart for dinner, just for Harry. Her son needed it.


End file.
